


Chasing Ghosts

by Kylo Hux (Loki_Likey_Thor_Odinson)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Abuse, Abuse Councillor!Finn, Abusive Relationships, Landlord!Hux, M/M, Mentioned StormPilot Relationship, Non-Canonical Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-03
Updated: 2016-03-23
Packaged: 2018-05-24 13:24:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6155083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loki_Likey_Thor_Odinson/pseuds/Kylo%20Hux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hux isn't sure why he agrees to house Ben Solo, the boyfriend of Senator Snoke - one of the most powerful men in New York - when his best friend asks him to. Maybe he's just a sucker for a damsel in distress.</p><p> <em>Tags to change as story progresses.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Brendol Hux groaned as he finally leant back from the oven he had been cleaning for over an hour now. If he ever saw those tenants again... Hux sighed and stood up, pouring the bucket of filthy water down the sink, turning the tap on to rinse the metal out, staring out the window as he did so.  
  
Hux owned three of the most expensive and sought after apartment blocks in New York; it gave him a good income, even if the work he had to go about as landlord was hell on his back. He really needed to stop arching his back at strange angles.  
  
Glancing around, anger coursed around Hux’s body.  
  
He had a strict no dogs, cats, otters, or any other similar animal rule precisely for this reason. The laminate had been ripped up, chewed away in places. The curtains were ripped to shreds, cushions had exploded from the pet onslaught. Fluff was stuck to the floor, stuck to animal excrement, and what smelt like gone off beer and alcohol.  
  
Hux pushed the window open and coughed harshly.  
  
This would take months to fix, months before he could even _consider_ getting a new tenant in here. This whole apartment could shut his building down.  
  
Hux didn’t appreciate that.  
  
Stretching his back out so it clicked, he checked the time, wincing to see it was already 2pm. He’d started in the morning, 6am, a nice, early start.  
  
Hux had barely made any progress. He’d gotten the animal excrement off the kitchen tiles – which were all going to have to be torn up and new tiling putting down – and he’d emptied the fridge and freezer of their gone off food. Hux had lost count of how many bags he’d had to haul down to the dumpsters out the back, locked away from the general public.  
  
He’d managed to scrub the oven clean, two inches thick of burnt food, crusted onto the white, gleaming metal. The washing up? That had all just been thrown. The thick, crusted mouldy gloop had turned Hux off the idea of shoving even marigold-covered hands into the sink.  
  
He’d boarded up one of the broken windows in the kitchen, and decided to call it a day, or at least, have a break.  
  
Peeling the latex gloves from his hands, Hux chucked them into the already over-flowing trash can before he made his way next-door to his own apartment.

-xox-

Hux had just sat down with a sandwich, realising how ravenous he was, when he heard his door knock. He froze a moment, before he slowly got up, setting his sandwich on the coffee table.  
  
Hux could have groaned when he opened his apartment door to find Finn on the doorstep, coffee in either hand, smiling awkwardly at Hux. A coffee was held out to him and Hux wondered if he could get away with slamming the door shut on his face – but then he accepted the Starbucks cup offered to him and stood to the side, letting Finn in.  
  
“What brings you to my doorstep?”  
  
“Well, I was wondering how you were-”  
  
“-cut the crap, you brought Starbucks,” Hux took a sip of it. “A caramel latte with an extra shot of caramel so you came for a favour.”  
  
Finn slumped and sat down.  
  
“I saw some of your tenants moved out.”  
  
“That apartment is totally unliveable, and I am not having you move in next door to me with Poe.”  
  
“A – we are not as bad as you make out. B – I need it for a guy at the clinic.”  
  
“A – I have heard you two have sex. B – I’ll repeat. It’s uninhabitable.”  
  
“You actually just said unliveable.”  
  
“I will throw this latte down you.”  
  
Finn sighed and put his feet up on Hux’s coffee table. “Look, I wouldn’t ask but I am _desperate_. I need to find this guy somewhere to live, like, yesterday.”  
  
“You know you can’t save everyone, right?” Hux’s voice was quiet as he sipped the latte in hand, frowning at Finn. Finn looked out the window.  
  
“I know, but this guy... his life is in danger, Hux.”  
  
Hux went silent. Finn was an abuse councillor; he talked with victims of all kinds of abuse, helped them resettle in life, help them find places to stay, safe places, helped them get jobs.  
  
Last year, he had lost someone to physical abuse, and it spurred Finn even harder, once he had stopped mourning.  
  
Hux still remembered the drunken man that showed up on his doorstep. _I could have saved him, if I just tried harder, I could have saved him_.  
  
“How bad is it?” Hux took another feew mouthfuls of his latte, watching Finn closely.  
  
“Every second he is in that house he is in that house, he is in danger. Snoke will kill him and get away with it- DUDE!”  
  
Hux had spat his mouthful of scalding hot latte down Finn, who immediately shot upright.  
  
“You want me to hide Senator Snoke’s boy toy in my apartment complex?!”  
  
“His life is in _danger_ , Hux, Snoke could kill him at any second.”  
  
Hux ran a hand over his day’s stubble, swallowing at the lump in his throat. He stared at the wall that connected to the apartment next door and cleared his throat.  
  
“What kind of abuse?”  
  
“He’s beaten his boyfriend so many times, the hospital joke about hooking him up with his own room.”  
  
Hux rubbed his face. “Alright. But I need some time to make it safe for him. He can’t live there right now.”  
  
Finn’s face cracked into a smile, and he laughed. “Thank you! Thank you, can I have a key for him?”  
  
Hux moved across the room to pick up his keys, tugging a spare one off. He hesitated before tossing it to Finn. “I want this kept silent. If Snoke gets wind of me hiding Ben Solo here, I could lose everything.”  
  
“It’ll be quieter than silent.”  
  
Hux nodded a little before sighing. “Alright. Let him know.”  
  
Finn jumped up and rushed to the door. “Thank you, thank you so much, Hux.”  
  
“Welcome.” Hux shut the door behind Finn and shut it, wondering just what he was getting himself into.


	2. Chapter 2

When Hux awoke the next morning, he smiled, laying where he was. Everything was right that morning; he could hear the dumpsters being emptied, like every Wednesday morning at 7am, the birds were singing, and the baby in the apartment below him was whining softly as it’s Father sang to it, and the apartment next door was blaring their music.  
  
Hux shot upright and stared at his bedroom wall, eyes wide as he realised that the music was coming from the uninhabited apartment on his right side. Quickly, he got out of bed, rushing to his wardrobe. He grabbed a pair of jeans on, and grabbed any shirt – in this case, sweater – that came to hand, shoving it on as he rushed through his apartment, grabbing his keys on the way out.  
  
He stumbled to the door next to his, and fumbled with his keys before he managed to press the metal into the lock, poking his head around the door with a frown. The music was definitely coming from in here, much louder now. Hux raised an eyebrow as he recognised the music as _Mr. Brightside_ by The Killers. He edged into the apartment as silently as he dared, and pushed the door open wide, just in case he needed a form of escape.   
  
Walking forward, Hux poked his head around the wall that separated the living room from the kitchen and stared at the tall, black-haired man that had his back to Hux.  
  
“Oi!”  
  
They spun around and Hux jumped back seeing a knife flying through the air.   
  
“KNIFE DOWN! Put the knife _down_ , I’m the landlord.”  
  
Hux stared at Ben Solo, his face full of fright, swallowing hard as he shifted on his feet.  
  
“L-Landlord?” He slowly put the knife back on the side, letting his white-knuckle grip go. “You’re not going to raise my rent for that, are you?”  
  
Hux shook his head and cast a look over the man in front of him. He was wearing too-big clothes, and Hux assumed he must have raided the wardrobe for the clothes the old tenants left behind. He was shifting awkwardly, and Hux stared at his hands for a moment. There were a lot of scars and still healing scabs. Hux raised his gaze and stared at the split lip and just-forming black eye that the man was sporting.  
  
There was a sleeping bag on the floor, seeming to have been plumped out with numerous blankets and pillows, and Hux felt a little bad.  
  
“I-I know you said this place was uninhabitable but I... I had no choice; I had nowhere else to go.”  
  
“You could have come and knocked on my door; I’m the neighbour to your left. 785.”  
  
Hux had to look away, his memory going back to his childhood at his words, remembering the woman at the bottom of the road. “I understand, Ben, really; but you can’t stay in here. I’ll look over my records and see if I have a spare apartment anywhere else in the building.”  
  
Ben nodded a little and wrung his hands out before he took a step forward, lurching a little as he did so. Hux leaned back but smiled as warmly as he could when Ben held his hand out. Hux shook it warmly, being careful of the wounds on the hands that looked brand new.  
  
“I-I’m Ben. Please don’t get used to that though, I’m changing it as soon as I can afford to.”  
  
“Do you have a name in mind?”  
  
Ben shuffled on his feet, cheeks going slightly red. “Kylo. Kylo Ren.”  
  
“Well then, Kylo, Kylo Ren, I’m Brendan Hux, and I’m your landlord.” Hux took a moment to glance around the apartment, pressing his hands into his pockets. “There’s no gas in here, or food, so why don’t you come next door to my apartment and I can cook you something to eat.” Hux glanced at how the man’s shirt seemed to hang limply, seeming to be extremely thin under the clothing. “Get you warmed up and settled in a little bit.”  
  
Kylo hesitated but nodded, moving to the side to grab his phone. He tapped at it, and the music stopped, and then Kylo bent down to clear up his sleeping bag.  
  
“Leave it. Trust me, leave it. If you slept in it on this floor, then it’ll be ruined. I’ll chuck it out later. I have a sofa-bed. You can sleep on that for a while.”  
  
Kylo smiled weakly at Hux, his eyes screaming a thank you, and then Hux ushered him to the doorway.

-xox-

Hux set his knife and fork down and stood, taking his plate to the sink to rinse the egg yolk from it. Kylo’s was already there – the man had wolfed the fried egg on toast down, and then sat awkwardly whilst Hux finished his own.  
  
The ginger gave his plate a quick rub down before he put the dirty plates, cutlery and frying pan into his washing machine. Standing up, he tugged the small first aid kit he kept in his drinks cupboard, pressed up in between the coffee granules and boxes of fruit tea.   
  
Sitting back down, Hux opened the box and pulled out some antiseptic wipes alongside some bandages before opening a wipe. Holding his hand out to Kylo, he watched the man hesitate before he slowly reached out, letting Hux take his hand.  
  
Hux winced slightly as Kylo hissed in pain as Hux swiped the wipe over the broken skin on his knuckles.  
  
“Easier to go through a little pain now, then let it get infected, and be in more pain later on.”  
  
“Is that like your motto?”  
  
“Something of the sort.”  
  
Hux gave Kylo’s knuckles another wipe over before he set it down. He wrapped the bandages as tightly as he dared around Kylo’s knuckles before securing them with a small bit of tape. Standing, he quickly chucked the trash in the bin before he looked over at Kylo as he cleared his throat.  
  
“A-About rent...”  
  
“You’ll start being charged the day you officially move in.”  
  
“I, um,” Kylo cleared his throat a little bit before he sighed. “I don’t have any money.”  
  
Hux hummed a little bit and leant against his sink, crossing his arms over his chest. “Then I’ll just start charging you when you can pay for it.”  
  
Kylo shook his head, frowning a little. “I can’t stay here without paying for anything.”  
  
Hux hummed a little more, turning to look out of his window. “Then, simply, if you’re living there for two months without money, then when you start paying me in the third month, I’ll just ask for a simple $10 a month, or you can just pay me back certain amounts of money every month on top of your rent.”  
  
Kylo nodded a little, playing with the bandage on his knuckles. “That’s fair.”  
  
Hux nodded a little bit and smiled softly. “So then, how about we take you to get some clothes. I know a quaint little shop just ten minutes away that’s just perfect for privacy.”  
  
Kylo hesitated and looked down at the shirt he was wearing, and hesitated. “I can’t pay.”   
  
“You can start a tab there.”  
  
Kylo looked up and smiled a little bit before slowly standing. “Sounds quaint.”


End file.
